GE Healthcare will take a thought-leadership role in boosting the state of healthcare in the Middle East region by bringing together experts and the media for path-breaking brainstorming sessions at the fourth annual Middle East Media Summit to be held on May 13, 2010 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The Summit will highlight the importance of strong and strategic partnerships in addressing the challenges faced by the healthcare sector in the region, with medical costs in the GCC region alone expected to increase five-fold to US$60 billion by 2025. The event will also provide a detailed overview of the state of healthcare in the region in addition to a comprehensive review of the new technologies that can help address pressing healthcare issues.

Aziz Koleilat, General Manager, GE Healthcare for the Middle East, said: “The Middle East region faces unique healthcare challenges ranging from the preponderance of lifestyle diseases in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to the lack of adequate healthcare infrastructure in some emerging markets. In addition to presenting a holistic picture of healthcare in the region, the Middle East Media Summit will discuss implementable strategies to address the challenges.”

He added: “Today, tangible changes in healthcare delivery are led by public and private partnerships that are focused on earlier healthcare. It is an accepted fact that rising healthcare costs can be managed if diseases are diagnosed earlier and treatment options provided when they can be more effective. The Summit will further explore this through discussions on partnership building and performance solutions.”

Central to the discussions will be ‘healthymagination’ GE’s initiative focused on continuously developing innovations to reduce costs, increase access and improve quality and efficiency of healthcare delivery around the world. The summit will discuss its relevance to the region, especially the GCC countries, where lifestyle diseases are on the rise with obesity, diabetes and stress being pressing challenges faced by the population.

Experts from leading healthcare organisations across the region will join the professionals from GE in discussing trends in healthcare including new innovations and participate in focus panels on regional healthcare issues including the burden posed by cardiovascular diseases. According to estimates, a considerable part of the healthcare costs in the GCC region are attributed to cardiovascular diseases.

Another critical area of discussion is the importance of research & development and innovation, and how regional private public partnerships can drive this forward. “Continuous innovation is critical to the earlier detection and management of diseases and ensuring good health in a fast changing world,” said Koleilat. “Along with the governmental emphasis on investments in healthcare innovation, the private sector must also stress on improving their R&D, which will be one of the areas discussed at the Media Summit.”

GE Healthcare has an established presence across the Middle East region partnering with various healthcare providers in the private and public sector. In addition to providing the latest diagnostic and medical technologies, GE also has structured training programmes to boost the skills of regional professionals.